


in the corner of the eyes

by YukinaMika



Series: 2021 [12]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29941035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukinaMika/pseuds/YukinaMika
Summary: Three times Marinette sees a boy who should be dead and the one time shefinallymeets him.For Maribat March 2021 Day 12 - Second Chance
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd
Series: 2021 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084436
Kudos: 28





	in the corner of the eyes

Nightmares are, Marinette has found out, dreams that leave an unpleasant taste on her tongue and a fragile tremble in her heart. They come and go with a pattern that she has yet to pinned down.

Sometimes, there is nothing but the unending darkness accompanying the deadly silence. Sometimes, the ticking of a clock – a bomb, she would always realize, sooner or later. Sometimes, laughter that feels like nails on the blackboard and the barest glimpses of the monster under the human skin.

Sometimes, there are eyes that seem to be the most beautiful shade of blue and green, weary but watching. Sometimes, the heart wrenching coughs that seem to always ring in her ears even hours after waking up with cold sweats and heaving lungs. Sometimes, the unmoving body that would haunt her every time she closes her eyes in the next few days.

This time, she finds herself wandering the empty streets dissimilar to those of Paris. The warm orange light of the streetlamps does nothing much to lighten up the darkened streets.

There is the sudden whispering of foot being dragged against the cement that pauses her steps. The shadows seem to twist and turn before her very eyes, as if stretching out for something.

Or _someone_ , she corrects herself at the approaching shadow of a person.

The suit is dirty, caked with dried mud and torn in several places. The person seems to take note of nothing around, continuing on their way with the aimlessness of someone lost and drifting.

The last thing she remembers before jolting awake is the familiar face that regularly haunts her sleep.

_(There are rules about life and death. Those might or might not, Marinette has learned, hold in the dreamscape._

_The dead cannot come back to life. And death is a one-way, and permanent, trip.)_

* * *

Gotham grows on her, eventually. It takes time but the streets seem a little bit more recognizable every time she goes out.

This city is, in some ways, similar to Paris. Monsters roam the streets, shadows twisting at the corner of her eyes. This city, in strange ways, feels familiar – as if she has wandered the streets times and times before.

Maybe that is why she finds herself on often trips to Robinson Park – the oasis in the midst of these strange, strange feelings.

Her hostess never seems to mind. Red can be spotted amidst the beautiful green as Marinette strolls through the park, unconcerned of the dangers that might befall any other person.

“This is no place for such a tiny sprout like you,” Ivy tells her, lips quirking up in the faintest ghost of a smile, “Insanity, I heard, is one of the rumored consequences of trespassing.”

She has always laughed at the teasing. Or at least until she is making her way toward Robinson Park in the late afternoon with her shadow behind her back.

The dying light of dusk does not help much with the features of the man standing just before the entrance to Robinson Park. Neither does Marinette spare him any mind, walking a straight line toward the gate with the confidence that she would come to no harm.

It is only when she is passing him that she catches a stray glance at his features.

She is well into the heart of the park when her brain starts working again.

_(There are rumors about how extended time around Robinson Park can lead to bouts of insanity – one of the consequences of being in close proximity of a legacy of Dionysus. Ivy does admit to have driven some insane, sometimes just by her mere presence and hardly ever by the power she inherited from Dionysus._

_Or maybe that is a sign. That it is time for her to leave Gotham and continue her travel.)_

* * *

Her return to Gotham is a quiet affair and it is fine. She is only there to visit old acquaintances.

Metropolis is a wonderful city, so much different from Gotham. For example, it lacks certain people that Marinette has grown, more or less, attached to.

Besides, the recent news in Gotham is quite a source of worry. The anxiety can be _felt_ from Metropolis.

The hotel that she finds is not the best she can afford but it is close to Robinson Park. They also offer breakfast, which is always a bonus.

From the news she can get her hands on, neither Harley nor Ivy is in Arkham. Yet neither of them has been seen around Gotham.

Going straight into Robinson Park would be foolish for anyone to attempt. But Marinette has never had a great record of doing what is expected of her, has she?

_(Ivy is fine. And Harley too, from what she has heard._

_Changes are happening. The tides are shifting. According to Ivy, things can either get dirty and bloody or peace will be restored. Or at least the barest resemblance of peace that Gotham knows of._

_And as she is turning the last corner to return to the hotel, once again, she catches sight of the familiar ghost that seems so keen of following her around.)_

* * *

Paris is the familiar ring in her bones, calling to her wherever she might be. It is the echoes of warmth that fills her belly with nostalgia as she walks the streets that she had walked times and times in the past.

Wherever one might wander to, they would have to return home. Eventually.

Her parents welcome her back with open arms and relieved smiles. Everything is just as when she left.

She settles back in as easily as if she has never left. It is strange feeling and yet, not the strangest.

And then, the door to the bakery chimes open on a beautiful noon.

Suddenly, she comes face-to-face with the eyes the shade between green and blue and features familiar and yet not, twisted by surprise rather than the agony that she has witnessed countless time in her sleep.

_(He left before she could learn his name._

_Marinette would have thought of this as nothing but a hallucination if not for the accidental brush of their hands as he paid for the pastries.)_

**Author's Note:**

> ~~The second chance here is Jason's second chance at life~~


End file.
